Try keepin a toddler outta black walnuts! They’ll stain their clothes and them from head to toe! Lol

We operate under different circumstances at the anvil. I'm a hobbyist and almost never make things that require heat treat beyond normalizing or annealing so I rarely need precise heat control. For what I do, controlling the steel's plasticity is more important. Knowing what not to do is as or more important than knowing what to do. 

My folks had sayings, some Shannon and I got sick to death of hearing. Most were as good advice as it gets but it was all forged during the Depression in them. Some had versions, call them corollaries. "You have to have a fall back." was one that had so many versions it's hard to tell what THE one was. For example, the more jobs you can do the less likely you'll be out of work, eg, fall back trade. And so on. 

Adding lasers and tempil sticks to your tool box not only makes you more flexible it lets you work in difficult conditions. Say you have a RUSH job that just must be done tomorrow but tonight is a serious storm, lightning, thunder winds rain, the works. Time to go hunker down with a book but you just can't.  

Well, right now your vision is shot, you're half flash blind and you're lucky to get a second or two of steady light. The laser will let you follow the temp as the piece heats, until it's close so you'll have a chance. Hopefully you're wearing an eye patch so one eye isn't flashed. You can wait till it's really close and in a moment between lightning flashes lift the patch and judge. 

Yeah a little imaginary journey but it could happen.  You may not use a laser thermometer very often but it's something you can fall back on in need. 

Besides you can play with the cat with a laser.

Frosty The Lucky.

Just don't take your temperature with it. It will erase your memory. At the start of covid our grocery store was using one to check your temperature before entering. I went there to get bread and milk but came out with pretzels and beer.

After you get your thermometer working to where you can trust it,  remember what you used as a standard to test temperatures.  Check your calibration on a regular basis to be sure it is still giving accurate readings.   

If I recall correctly in the labs I worked in all measuring equipment was checked for accuracy and precision yearly.

~Jobtiel

  Old article here but I found it interesting, probably overkill for this topic.  The little video says they measure the temperatures using light beyond the visible spectrum however that works.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/humans-create-a-temperature-250-000-times-hotter-than-the-sun-right-here-on-earth/259055/

On 6/9/2022 at 8:08 AM, JHCC said:

 

Any other suggestions?

In our blood bank, we use ice and water. Or we did. Now we contract with a company to come by and revalidate then every two years.